Banned Steve Smith still rated world’s best batsman by ICC

MSN New Zealand – He has been banned from top-level cricket for four months, but the International Cricket Council still rates former Australian captain Steve Smith as the best Test batsman in the world.

Summary

Related: Steve Smith hits half century on surreal return to cricket in Canada | Faraz SarwatAnd David Warner is in fifth place in the ICC rankings, despite receiving the same 12-month ban as Smith following the ball tampering scandal in South Africa.

Smith still sits atop the table ahead of India’s Virat Kohli, Joe Root from England, New Zealand’s Kane Williamson and then Warner.

The ICC uses a points system to determine the rankings, so Smith’s form prior to the Johannesburg debacle lifted him to 929 points, with Kohli on 903 and Root sitting on 855.

Smith and Warner have recently made their return to cricket in a T20 league in Canada while they wait for their ban to expire, while Warner and fellow suspended batsman Cameron Bancroft are playing in a tournament in Darwin.

Australia are in third place on the Test team rankings, behind India and South Africa, who on Monday lost a series to Sri Lanka.